The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Commands Cheat Sheet

Raspbian OS Terminal

cat [name]

Show the contents of the file [name]

cd ..

Change to parent directory

cd [path]

Move to the directory at [path]

cd /

Change to root directory

cd ~

Change to your home directory - usually "/home/"

chmod [who][+,-,=][permissions] [name]

Change the permissions for a file

chmod 777 [name]

Allow all users to read, write and execute the file [name]

chmod u+x [name]

Allow the user to execute [name]

cp -r [from] [to]

Copy all files and subdirectories from source [from] to destination [to]

cp [from] [to]

Copy a file from source [from] to destination [to]

find

Search for files and their contents

grep ‘string’ [name]

Search inside one or more files for occurrences of ‘string’

head [name]

Return all occurrences of 'string' within file [name]

ls

List the contents of the current directory

ls -a

List all files including hidden files

ls -l

List the contents of the current directory with more file information

ls [path]

List the contents of the directory found at [path]

man [command]

Open the manual/help page for [command]

man man

Open the manual/help page for the ‘man’ command (helpception)

mkdir [name]

Create a directory called [name] in the current working directory

mv -r [from] [to]

Move all files and directories from source [from] to destination [to]

mv [from] [to]

Move a file from source [from] to destination [to]

pwd

Show the name of the current working directory

python/python3 --version

Shows you what version of Python you currently have installed

rm -r *

Remove all files and directories from the current working directory

rm [name]

Remove the specified file

rm *

Remove all files from the current working directory

rmdir [name]

Remove the empty directory [name] from the current working directory

sudo [command]

Superuser do. Execute [command] with elevated privileges (Allows you to do things you usually wouldn't have access to)

sudo apt-get ​install [package]

Install a package

sudo apt-get update

Update the list of packages

sudo apt-get upgrade

Upgrade the installed packages - must be run after sudo apt-get update

sudo ​chown pi:root [name]

Change the owner of the file [name] to user 'pi' and set the group to 'root'

​sudo raspi-config

Launch the Raspberry Pi configuration menu

sudo reboot

Safely restart your Pi

sudo shutdown -h now

Safely shutdown your Pi immediately

sudo su

Places you in the root directory with root user access - be careful with this!

tail [name]

Show the end of file [name]

tar -cvzf [name] [path]

Create compressed file [name] from the contents of [path]

tar -xvzf [name]

Extract the contents of the compressed file [name]

wget [uri]

Download the file found at [uri] on the internet

RPi.GPIO Library

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

Import the RPi.GPIO module into the python sketch

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

Use Broadcom pin numbers (GPIO 14, GPIO 15 etc)

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

Use board pin numbers (4,5, 8 etc)

GPIO.getmode()

Returns current pin numbering mode (BCM, BOARD, or None)

GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN)

Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input

GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_DOWN)

Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input with internal pull down resistance

GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)

Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an input with internal pull up resistance

GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.OUT)

Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an output

GPIO.setup([pin number], GPIO.OUT, initial=1)

Set up the pin at [pin number] to be an output with the initial value '1'

GPIO.output([pin number], 1)

Set [pin number]'s value to 1. Note that 1, GPIO.HIGH and True are the same thing

GPIO.output([pin number], 0)

Set [pin number]'s value to 0. Note that 0, GPIO.LOW and False are the same thing

i = GPIO.input([pin number])

Set the variable i to the value of [pin number]

if GPIO.input([pin number]):

Use the value of [pin number] as a boolean in code

GPIO.cleanup()

Reset all GPIO pins (good practice to call before leaving any program)

GPIO.VERSION

Returns current RPi.GPIO version

GPIO Zero Library

LEDs

from gpiozero import LED

Import the LED section of the gpiozero library

led = LED(17)

Assign the 'led' variable to an LED on pin GPIO 17

led.on()

Turn on the LED stored in the 'led' variable

led.off()

Turn off the LED stored in the 'led' variable

led.toggle()

Toggle the LED stored in the 'led' variable (if it's off, turn it on and vice versa)

Motors

from gpiozero import Motor

Import the Motor section of the gpiozero library

motor = Motor(17, 18)

Assign the variable 'motor' to a Motor object containing the forward and backward drive pin numbers

motor.forward()

Activate the forward pin of the variable 'motor'

motor.backward()

Activate the backward pin of the variable 'motor'

motor.reverse()

Reverse the current motor direction

motor.stop()

Stop the motor

Buzzer

from gpiozero import Buzzer

Import the Buzzer section of the gpiozero library

bz = Buzzer(3)

Assign the variable bz to a Buzzer on pin GPIO3

bz.on()

Turn the buzzer on

bz.off()

Turn the buzzer off

bz.toggle()

Toggle the buzzer's state (if it's off, turn it on and vice versa)

Servo

from gpiozero import Servo

Import the Servo section of the gpiozero library

servo = Servo(17)

Assign the 'servo' variable to a Servo on GPIO 17

servo.min()

Move the servo to its minimum value

servo.mid()

Move the servo to its middle value

servo.max()

Move the servo to its maximum value

servo.value = 0.5

Move the servo to a set numerical point (min = -1, max = 1)

Raspi Camera Image

raspistill

Command to take a still image with attached camera, modify with arguments below

--width, -w

Set image width

--height, -h

Set image height

--quality, -q

Set JPEG quality <0 to 100> (75 is most common)

--raw, -r

Inserts raw Bayer data from the camera into the JPEG metadata

--output, -o

Output filename (required for saving)

--latest, -l

Add latest frame to filename

--verbose, -v

Verbose debugging information during run

--timeout, -t

Set a time to wait before capturing an image.

--encoding, -e

Encoding to use for output file - jpg, gif, bmp, or png

Raspi Camera Video

raspivid

Command to take a video using attached camera, modify with arguments below

--width, -w

Set image width (between 64px - 1920px)

--height, -h

Set image height (between 64px - 1080px)

--bitrate, -b

Set bitrate in bits per second (i.e 15 Mbits/s = 15000000)

--output, -o

Output filename (required for saving)

--verbose, -v

Verbose debugging information during run

--timeout, -t

Set a time to wait before capturing video

--framerate, -fps

Specify the frames per second for recording